Pennsylvania State Rep. Babette Josephs, a Philadelphia Democrat, may have reached a new low in political discourse on the issues of abortion. Upset that pro-life women in the state legislature support a bill allowing women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child before an abortion, she referred to them as “men with breasts.”

“During her remarks, she blasted women lawmakers who co-sponsored the ultrasound bill, asking rhetorically, ‘What are they? Women, or are they men with breasts?’ according to supporters of the bill who watched the rally.

Josephs stood by her words after the rally, arguing that the women lawmakers on the bill – sponsored by Rep. Kathy Rapp of Warren County — are acting like women only in the sense ‘that they will do what the men tell them.’

‘They must believe that they are not capable of making their own health care choices, but they are capable of voting on bills that control all of our behavior,’ Josephs continued. ‘I don’t understand it …

She doesn’t understand it? I don’t understand it. By what logic are women who maintain that pregnancy is, in fact, the first stage of motherhood (i.e. that you are a mother from the minute you conceive your child) more manly than women who maintain otherwise? By what logic are women who want other women to realize their own motherhood more manly than women who want otherwise?

Let’s get this straight once and for all: Man and woman are different (as Ms. Josephs implies with her remark) and one of the primary differences between the two is woman’s capacity for motherhood. How is the recognition of that capacity somehow the obviation of femininity? The opposite is true: The negation of fertility is a crude attempt to negate gender difference.

In all the discussion of a “war on women,” hardly anyone has talked about women’s war on women — the now decades-old attempt by feminists to convince their fellow women that what women alone can do is somehow of less value than what both men and women can do. It’s not that men wanted women to become pregnant so they could somehow keep us down; it’s that only women can become pregnant.

Women have a fundamental freedom that men do not: They have the freedom to become or not become a mother.(Correspondingly, men have a freedom to become or not become a father.) Note that that freedom is antecedent to sex. By having sex, a woman essentially says with her body that she’s comfortable with becoming a mother — because pregnancy is always a possibility of sex. Once a woman conceives a child, she is a mother. Her choice then is only as to what kind of mother she will be.

Traditional morality teaches us that, while freedom might be a valid political end, it’s not a valid moral end: We must choose to use our freedom for the good. Motherhood is inherently a good (again, if for no other reason than that it perpetuates humankind!), for which we should at least be open to using our freedom.

Make no mistake: Feminism in its present day iteration does not teach us to use our freedom for something other than motherhood or for something in addition to motherhood. We all know women are capable of bearing fruit in a myriad of ways — not just by having children — and that they should not be denied opportunities to contribute to society in ways other than motherhood.

No, feminism seeks to actually take that freedom from us by obscuring the terms of the debate. A woman who does not know reality has no meaningful freedom to speak of because she has only false choices. A woman, for example, who thinks that she can become pregnant without becoming a mother is unable to make a meaningful choice between non-motherhood and motherhood.

Oh women, please don’t buy the lies! Wake up and claim the freedom that is your due!

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Is it just me or does anyone else notice that the “men with breasts” type of attack is almost always made by women on the left who are decades too old to be in danger of getting pregnant ? I’m 55, and I recall feeling jealousy toward women who were still young enough to bear children. Also regret about not having another child when I still could.
Josephs needs to go deal with her unresolved feelings about how she spent her fertile years so that she can stop spewing hatred at women who have made, or can still make, better choices.

…I hope there’s one another area that ‘didn’t’ turn to ‘stone’…or, I’m gonna have to bleach your eyes!

KOOLAID2 on March 26, 2012 at 6:46 PM

Here is an old joke. Two kids sitting on a fence one shows the other a girlie magazine. Second kid looks at it and then looks away. Friend asks “what’s wrong”? Second kid, “mom said don’t look at naked ladies or I’d turn to stone—and I already feel something getting hard.”

The hate on the left knows no bounds or civility. They cannot disagree on principles or ideas, they attack the person. Consistent I suppose with their blood lust to kill little babies. I seriously question the gender of any “woman” who would kill her child. Speaking of which, anybody get look at the senator? Female? Maybe once.

Why are Democrat women law makers so ugly? I’ll answer my own question! Because they are STUPID and EVIL. That brings out the ugliness in their appearance. They are just willing tools for the higher ups and do their bidding as told! At least they don’t have to worry about giving sexual favors. What man in his right mind would want sexual favors from any of them? Ugh! Yuck! I think I’m going to throw up!

RICHMOND — After weeks of partisan wrangling that dragged the General Assembly into overtime, the Virginia Senate on Monday finally passed a state budget bill.

But lawmakers still have more work to do before they can send a budget plan to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s desk.

The evenly divided Senate voted 35-4 to pass its own version of a two-year $85 billion budget, something it failed to do during the regular legislative session that ended March 10.
Senate Democrats had twice blocked passage of a budget bill before winning some concessions on funding for education and health and human services programs, and on provisions to mitigate tolls on major transportation projects in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

But Senate Democrats failed in their effort to insert a provision that would require the state to cover the cost for some ultrasound procedures required before women have abortions that will be mandated under controversial legislation McDonnell signed into law earlier this month. A Democratic floor amendment failed by a vote of 19-20.(More…..)
=====================

In all the discussion of a “war on women,” hardly anyone has talked about women’s war on women — the now decades-old attempt by feminists to convince their fellow women that what women alone can do is somehow of less value than what both men and women can do. It’s not that men wanted women to become pregnant so they could somehow keep us down; it’s that only women can become pregnant.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

WOW!!! This is so powerful and a perspective that hasn’t gotten as much attention as it deserves. Good on you.

How can any self-respecting woman have any doubt about the left’s vision for us? We’re to shut up, vote Democrat, and be happy with it. It reminds me of every single abusive relationship I’ve ever witness: Democrats swear up and down they love us, then the second we disagree with them, it’s time for the fist. Then they’ll say they didn’t really mean it, and please remember to vote for Obama.

If the photo is at all representative, Josephs looks quite a bit like a man with breasts herself. One might also wonder where she might think babies come from. Where she came from? What if her mother had been pro-choice? Would we be reading these ignrotant quotes?